


Kino's Brilliant Plan To Make the Giants in the Maknae Line Fall in Love (ft. Shinwon-hyung)

by Yume_no_Mikoto



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Everyone in Pentagon are the best bros, Fluff and Angst, Kino is the best bro, Like really slow, M/M, One-sided attraction?, Shinwon is the best bro, Slow Build, but I also promise fluff as I continue to write this, idk if i should add more ships, might introduce more characters as it builds, mostly angst because I'm evil like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-03-07 16:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13438488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yume_no_Mikoto/pseuds/Yume_no_Mikoto
Summary: I wrote a thing because I love Pentagon, I quickly became Wooyu trash and because the maknae line hates me. Thanks guys. Appreciate you wrecking my life~Anyway, the title's pretty self-explanatory to what this story is about hahahaEnjoy! Comments are appreciated :)





	1. PROLOGUE: Yuto's POV

Yuto and Wooseok are inseparable.

Ever since the both of them became roommates, they started to do everything together. They get ready together, they eat together, when all the members have to stand in line they stand next to each other, sometimes when Yuto gets scared of the dark or when he’s too tired to climb the bunk, they sleep together, Yuto doesn’t even remember the last time he showered alone. That’s probably a strange thought but what’s even stranger is that he doesn’t feel weird about it, they’re all basically brothers, right? He shouldn’t be self-conscious about getting naked in front of him.

Everything is great.

…until it wasn’t.

Wooseok is kind of known to be a pretty tactile guy. He's always touching, hugging or leaning into the members, and because he’s always around Yuto, he gets the brunt of his touchy tendencies. He didn’t mind, Yuto knows he also has times when he’d just randomly hug people… and he honestly kind of liked it when Wooseok hugs him. It always made Yuto feel safe encased in the larger man’s arms but now it’s not just that.

The last time Wooseok hugged him, they were listening to Hui as he gave them the rundown of next week’s schedules. They were all just standing around the practice room when Wooseok’s arms just suddenly wrap around his middle. Instead of being unaffected by it as he usually did, his posture became rigid. He felt his face heat and he was so embarrassed but he didn’t know why. At first Wooseok probably thought he scared him so he just chuckled, his breath tickling his left ear but that didn’t help at all. He wasn’t surprised or frightened. He just felt so warm… he doesn’t understand what it is and why it’s bothering him so much.

Wooseok must’ve noticed that his disposition didn’t change because he lifted his head from where it was perched on Yuto’s shoulder and murmured, “You okay man?”

Yuto can feel the younger man’s lip brush his ear and it just made him even more rigid because his mind went straight from _this is kind of uncomfortable_ to _I wonder how those lips would feel against mine_ in mere seconds. He manages a stiff nod before making his arms move to break open the hug.

 _This is wrong. This is so very wrong. Why am I thinking like this? Wooseokie is my friend. He’s my younger friend, it doesn’t matter if we’re only 8 days apart._ His mind keeps playing in his head.

In his hurry trying to leave the younger’s arms, he steps forward in front of his hyungs and Kino. Hui stares at the younger and quirks an eyebrow. “Anything you want to say Yuto-yah?”

Yuto’s already red face tries to mimic a tomato even further but he manages to stammer, “I need to use the b-bathroom. Be right back.” and bolt out of the practice room before anyone gets to question his peculiar behavior.

He sits in a closed toilet in one of the stalls and tries to calm his stuttering breath. He doesn’t know why he had such a visceral reaction to what Wooseok did. He does it to him all the time, he’s done it to everyone else. Yuto even remembers Wooseok kissing him on the cheeks multiple times… and as his mind wanders to those particular memories, his breath starts going wrong again and Yuto doesn’t understand it. He really can’t.

Actually, he has a few ideas but he’d rather not give them any ground in his mind. They’re dangerous, volatile and if he even considers those thoughts it might not just break his friendship with his best friend but also Pentagon as a whole. He cannot be thinking like this. He has to stop imagining Wooseok kissing him or holding him like he was the only one that mattered, those thoughts are dangerous. He can’t think of these things… but it’s so hard not to.

After what seemed like hours of just him trying not to cry in frustration and trying to calm his breaths, the door to the men’s room opens.

“Yuto?” he hears Hyunggu’s voice ring across the stalls.

He wasn’t going to respond but then again, he wasn’t the type to worry his friends. He stands from the toilet seat, flushing it just to show that his trip to the bathroom wasn’t in vain— even though all he really did was sit there—and come out of the stall, moving straight to the sinks to wash his hands.

Hyunggu stands next to him immediately as he spots the raven-haired boy. “Are you okay?” he asks in a soft voice, his arms wrapping around Yuto’s right arm.

Hyunggu has a tendency to act cutely if he’s worried that the person won’t answer and that’s just what he’s doing. Hyunggu knows he’s adorable and uses it to his advantage quite a lot. Yuto looks at him and underneath the pouty lips and crinkled nose, he can see just how worried Hyunggu is for him. If anything, it warms his heart.

He smiles at Hyunggu and nods his head. “I’m okay. I just needed to use the bathroom, that’s all.”

“Yah, Yuto!” Hyunggu smacks his arm in emphasis. “Don’t lie to me. I can’t smell anything here and you’ve been gone for almost fifteen minutes.”

Yuto hangs his head for a moment before sighing, “It’s really nothing you should worry about Hyunggu. I just needed to clear my head.”

Hyunggu tilts his head at him quizzically before mumbling tentatively, “Did… Wooseok say something to you? Are you fighting?”

Yuto widens his eyes at that, he’s never fought with Wooseok before and he’s not planning to ever fight him. “No. Of course not.”

“But it has something to do with him, right?”

Hyunggu tightens his grip on his arm as he said those words, his eyes never leaving Yuto’s face, gauging his reaction.

“H-how… Hyunggu, what…”

The purple haired boy shrugged his shoulders—as much as he could holding on Yuto’s arm—and responded, “I was watching you guys when Hui-hyung was talking about our schedules. You just kinda bolted after he back-hugged you. Minutes before that meeting, I remember back-hugging you and we were just swaying around together but when Wooseokie did it…”

Sometimes Yuto forgets just how perceptive Hyunggu is of his friends. He’s observant and insightful, just like Hongseok, but he’s even more perceptive when it comes to Yuto and Wooseok. Yuto guesses it’s because the three of them are quite close in age. Their eyes meet for what seemed to be an entire minute. Yuto wants to lie and say that he just wasn’t feeling well or some other excuse but he knows Hyunggu wouldn’t believe him anyway. He takes a deep breath, and another before nodding his head.

Hyunggu purses his lip like he does when he’s thinking something through before nodding to himself.

“Alright. We’ll talk about it when you’re ready… but for now, you wanna switch with Shinwon-hyung so you can stay with me?” Yuto responds with a confused look making Hyunggu chuckle. “You said it has something to do with Wooseokie right? You might get even more…uh, how do I call it… _weird_ if you hang around him all the time. I’m sure Shinwon-hyung won’t mind, he likes Wooseok well enough and he’s pretty understanding.”

“You don’t have to do that for me.” Yuto can feel himself blushing again. It’s no one’s fault but his own that he feels this way and yet the purple-haired boy is still willing to help him even if he doesn’t really know what’s going on in his messed-up head.

Hyunggu just smiles at him before knocking their shoulders together. “Yuto-yah. You’re my friend, Wooseokie’s my friend too. Whatever this is, I’ll help you. I’ll help you both.”

Yuto nods his head, smiling at his shorter friend. It’s not a permanent solution but he guesses some time away from Wooseok would do his heart some good. Maybe this feeling would go away. The boys leave the bathroom afterwards, Yuto’s feeling a little better already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not proof-read by anyone but me. If there's any grammatical errors that bother you, please let me know!


	2. Phase I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunggu has a plan. It’s time he stepped up and become the love angel he was always meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't really know where I'm going with this but rest assured it will end with wooyu, I have said that I'm pretty trash for these boys, that hasn't changed~  
> also, all subsequent chapters will be Hyunggu POV, which is why I didn't put which POV this is. If it does change however, I will be sure to point it out to you guys. That's it I guess, enjoy! :)

After calming his Japanese friend down and sending him to Hui-hyung to talk about the temporary sleeping arrangements, telling him that their reason would be that they’re planning to make a To-Do List together, Hyunggu went to one of the practice rooms to look for Shinwon and tell him about his plan.

The purple haired man thought a lot about what he saw, how Yuto reacted to Wooseok and how troubled he looked when he took him out of the bathroom. Hyunggu only had one explanation as to why Yuto is acting this way… and guessing on Wooseok’s reaction to Yuto running out like he did— that genuinely worried look he saw hasn't been on the maknae's face since Pentagon Maker days— it might be reciprocated. Even so, Hyunggu knew just how dense the maknae can be when it comes to feelings, he knew that if he made Wooseok realize what he feels for Yuto then Pentagon would have an adorably tall couple. They're meant to be, he just knows they are.

Hyunggu has a plan. It’s time he stepped up and become the love angel he was always meant to be.

Shinwon was practicing dance with Hongseok and Yan An when Hyunggu spotted him, Changgu was there too, watching them as he was sitting by the mirror. They seem to be doing pretty good, distantly Hyunggu thought about how those three were considered the worse dancers in Pentagon and how much they’ve developed their skills through the years.

Hyunggu loves his group, he really does.

He makes his presence known by clapping behind them, making Shinwon jump in surprise and Yan An and Hongseok look at the younger man.

“Ah, really Hyunggu, don’t scare me like that,” Shinwon mumbles, his hand clutching his chest.

He reaches out to the older one and hugs him from behind. “Don’t be scared hyung! I was congratulating you guys!”

“Aish, you kid, always doing this!” the taller man playfully hitting Hyunggu’s joined hands locked around his stomach.

Yan An, seeing as their practice won’t be starting anytime soon, sits down next to Changgu and chugs almost an entire bottle of water, the man next to him patting his back in congratulations. Hongseok just crosses his arms in front of his chest and raises an eyebrow at the youngest one in the room.

“Any reason why you’re interrupting Hyunggu-ah?”

Hyunggu smiles at Hongseok and asked, “Can I borrow Shinwonie-hyung for like 5 minutes?”

This makes the man wrapped around his arms stare at the purple-haired boy. “Me?”

“Yes! I need to talk to you about something hyung… privately…”

“Yah!” Yan An suddenly pipes up from where he’s sitting, “Why are you keeping secrets now?”

Hyunggu just directs his smile to him, his eyes glinting in a mischievous way. “Don’t worry Yananie-hyung, everything will reveal itself in due time.”

Changgu laughs at the younger’s antics, ruffling Yan An’s hair to remove the confused look in his face. “It’s just Kino being Kino, don’t mind it Yananie. Although…” Changgu bites his lip in thought, “I am pretty interested to know what this is about.”

“Secret is a secret Changgu-hyung!” he emphasizes by sticking his tongue out at the older man.

Shinwon shakes his head at the other members. “Come on Hyunggu-ah, the faster you tell me what you want, the faster we can go back and practice.”

“Yah, I didn’t say anything yet.”

“We’ll be back Hong-ma, don’t worry.” Shinwon tells him in a sarcastic tone.

The eldest one in the room keeps pouting as Hyunggu and Shinwon exit the practice room, Changgu chuckling to himself at how adorable their hyung is.

They waddle out still stuck together. Hyunggu moves to a quiet corner a few steps away from the practice room when he releases Shinwon from his arms and immediately asking, “Hyung, you’re okay with rooming with Wooseokie for like a few days, right?”

“Wait, what?”

“You see hyung… I think Yuto wants to separate himself from Wooseok for a few days, get his head straight,” chuckling to himself as he realized he said the word straight. Yuto’s clearly very gay for the maknae.

Shinwon’s disbelieving face is making the younger laugh a little more. “You’re not making any sense, those two are attached to the hip.”

“Well maybe they want surgery to separate from each other. Temporary surgery at least.”

Shinwon has his arms crossed, meaning he’s thinking about it, fifty-fifty chance he’ll say yes. Hyunggu is really good at this.

“Okay,” he finally says, Hyunggu mentally congratulates himself, “but did you tell Hui-hyung about it?”

“Yuto is telling him now,” he responds readily, now swaying back and forth in excitement.

“Uh-huh. So, is that’s all you want to tell me?”

Hyunggu stops and purses his lip. He wants to tell Shinwon his plan but he’s not sure if Shinwon is as observant as he is… or that if he’s at all okay with having a gay couple in Pentagon. Well, one way to find out, he guesses.

“No. Actually hyung, I think you noticed this too but Yuto... he likes Wooseokie.”

Shinwon quirks an eyebrow at what the younger said. “I mean, yeah, I like Wooseokie too. We all do.”

No use beating around the bush, Hyunggu thinks, before whisper-shouting, “Not that way hyung. Like he’s gay for the maknae!”

Silence falls in the corridor.

Five seconds later, Shinwon mumbles an “Oh.” Another five seconds later, he says a louder, resounding, “Oh!”

“Yeah. So, I was thinking you can help me… bring them together?”

“You wanna play matchmaker with the milk couple?”

Hyunggu nods, getting even more excited as the older doesn’t seem to be against his idea at all. “Yes. I’m at least one hundred percent sure Wooseok feels the same with Yuto.”

Shinwon snorts, “At least a hundred percent, huh.”

The older stares at the purple-haired boy, seeing if he’s not doing some elaborate prank. Honestly, if it is some prank, it’s not Hyunggu’s style. He likes to play around like the other maknaes but pranks aren’t his thing. Also, Shinwon doesn’t know and he never really guessed that any of his dongsaengs were gay, not that he assumed that they were straight either just… he never thought about anyone’s sexuality, they were family to him, he honestly doesn’t care if they were straight or not.

Hyunggu seems really determined about this, underneath the playful and mischievous face is a sort of steely resolve in his eyes. Shinwon can just go with it and see what happens.

He’s never thought of Yuto and Wooseok that way but if they do love each other the way that Hyunggu thinks they are, then he’s not going to be a hindrance to the milk couple.

Shinwon runs a hand through his hair and sighs, “Alright. Tell me what you want to do.”


	3. Phase I Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He admits it’s a little strange, not hearing Shinwon putter in the bunk below him or not complaining about his hyung’s dirty tendencies—surprisingly, Yuto’s a fairly clean person—but he knows this will be for the better of everyone involved in the end.
> 
> He has to believe that.

There was a little setback with Yuto and Shinwon exchanging a few things—Shinwon’s pillow and godawful rag, Yuto’s nightlight that’s not really a nightlight according to him and some clothes—at the guard house as Hyunggu and Wooseok were tasked to help them. It wasn’t really a problem with moving things in general, it was just that Hyunggu couldn’t help but notice Wooseok looking really pouty that time. Yuto looked really awkward next to him too. They weren’t talking, they exchanged a few nods here and there but mostly they were silent. Shinwon noticed the weirdness too and tried to crack a few jokes, Hyunggu thought they were funny and Yuto tried to laugh in an awkward I-don’t-really-get-it-because-I’m-foreign laugh he and Yan An sometimes do but the youngest of them all didn’t even crack a smile.

After the impromptu move-in, they ate in relative silence with the hyungs, Yuto took a quick shower and just plopped himself in Shinwon’s bed. He assumes it’s because Wooseok didn’t take the roommate exchange well, or maybe he did and Yuto feels a little betrayed at how the maknae was just willing to let him leave.

Feelings are weird, Hyunggu knows this quite well, but he did tell Yuto he was going to help and Shinwon is already doing his part of Hyunggu’s plan. He just wants things to work out between his friends.

Hyunggu sits down next to the taller man and pat his shoulder.

“Things will be okay, we’ll figure all this out,” he tells his Japanese friend.

Yuto doesn’t say anything, just stares into the top bunk as if it revealed all the answers. The purple-haired boy walks to the front of the room to turn off the lights before he hears a soft, “Hyunggu…”

He turns to his friend at the bottom bunk and answers, “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry for all this.”

He smiles at Yuto and shakes his head. “It’s okay Yuto-yah. I want to help and… I’m sure you’ll do the same for me, right?”

He sees a sliver of a smile before Yuto nods his head.

He admits it’s a little strange, not hearing Shinwon putter in the bunk below him or not complaining about his hyung’s dirty tendencies—surprisingly, Yuto’s a fairly clean person—but he knows this will be for the better of everyone involved in the end.

He has to believe that.

He woke up hours before everyone else, already rearing with energy. He peeks down the bunk to see Yuto curled up to his side, his eyebrows scrunched together as if he’s having a really vivid dream. It’s cute, he thinks, before going down and taking the first shower.

Breakfast was better this time, Yuto was side-eyeing Hongseok as he cracked the usual jokes and Hyojong and Hui were fighting for the last piece of meat on the table. All of the hyungs didn’t seem to question why Yuto suddenly decided to stay with them and he’s glad for it, he knows it would make the taller one uncomfortable and he’s glad that the hyungs either don’t care or have come to that conclusion as well.

After breakfast, Yuto helped Hongseok with the dishes—all the while Hongseok praising him, telling him he was the best dongsaeng in the world—while Hyojong went to take his shower. No one really knew why he had to take his shower after breakfast even when no one is using the bathroom but Hyunggu just chalks it up to one of the many weird habits of his hyung.

He was lying on their small couch scrolling through their fancafe with his phone when Hui unceremoniously dumps himself in the middle of the couch, squishing Hyunggu’s belly, making the younger yelp and roll on the floor. Hui bursts out laughing as he helps the younger boy up, having him sit next to him.

“Sooo… when are you going to the company?” Hui suddenly asks him, his arm still around the younger’s shoulder.

Hyunggu purses his lip as he tries to understand why he needs to go to company today, the leader specifically said that today’s their day off so that they can rest fully for their upcoming shows.

“I’m not?” he phrases as a question, clearly confused by the leader’s words.

Hui just raises an eyebrow, muttering slowly, “So you’re not going to work on your To-Do List with Yuto?”

Oh. Oh. Oh!

His eyes try their hardest to bulge out of his sockets as he impersonates a dying fish. He forgot that was the whole “reason” why he and Yuto were even allowed to stay together. Hui immediately notices his reaction and one side of his lips quirks up and he pats the younger’s shoulder a little harder than normal.

“Hyunggu-ah, you do remember what your To-Do List with Yuto was about right?” he asks in the most innocent voice he can muster but clearly, Hyunggu knows his hyung his challenging him.

He never specified to Yuto what kind of To-Do List he wanted to fake-do with him. Maybe Yuto had to make up to Hui just what kind of video it was on the spot and he never mentioned it to Hyunggu, or maybe Hui is just trying to make him spill the actual reason why Yuto is here because he’s suspicious.

What does he say? What should he say? He was marking off every activity he could think of—sports? No, he’s not athletic. Work on dancing? Well, Yuto’s a pretty good dancer but it’s still feasible, maybe they’ll choreograph a dance together. Japanese lessons? It would make more sense but he’s already attending classes for that.

Hyunggu is wracking his brain for what his Japanese friend might have said but there’s too many options that he’s not sure which one he should say. He opens his mouth and just hopes to every single deity and the cosmos that what he says is right as he feels the couch dip next to him and he sees Yuto sitting there, smiling at the both of them.

“What are you guys talking about?”

Hyunggu immediately pipes up, “Hyung and I were just talking about the To-Do List that we were going to do!”

Yuto must’ve seen the desperation in his eyes as he nods at the purple-haired boy. “Oh, you mean the song?”

“The song?”

The Japanese boy smiles at him before ruffling his hair. “Yeah. You said you wanted to make an original Japanese song and I wanted to work on my composing, so we settled on writing a song together.”

Hyunggu returns the smile a hundredfold. He can’t believe he didn’t think of composing. “Yes. Yeah, of course. It totally slipped my mind.”

In the back of his mind, he’s a little astonished that Yuto was lying so well. He always thought that Yuto wasn’t a good liar, maybe he just chooses not to lie because he’s always been that honest kid. Hyunggu should remember this just in case.

Hui taps the side of his neck, garnering his attention again. “Yah maknaes, don’t forget I’m here too.”

“Ah, sorry hyung.”

“Yeah, sorry Hui-hyung.”

The leader sighs as he looks at the both of them. “So, when are you going to the company?”

Yuto bites his lip in thought, nodding to himself as he answers, “We could go now.”

Hyunggu shrugs, this time going to Yuto’s side to hug his arm. “I’m fine with going now, I just need to change and we can leave.”

“Cool.”

Hui smiles at the both of them before standing. “Alright. Just don’t go home late, okay?”

“What about you hyung? You’re just gonna stay here?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna sleep the day away. Hong-ma and Dawnie are planning to go shopping though, if you want them to buy anything for you, just tell them before you leave.”

“Alright. Thanks hyung.”

Yuto was waiting for him by the front door when Hui pulls Hyunggu aside. The leader looks worried, his eyes exploring the younger’s face, almost studying him.

“Hyunggu-ah,” he says in a serious tone, “I don’t know what this is about but please just promise me this won’t hurt anyone or Pentagon.”

He was thinking about lying to Hui, tell him that they were only going to make music, but seeing his hyung’s worried face made him reconsider. He doesn’t have to tell him everything but he can at least promise this won’t hurt anything. “Yes hyung, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while to come out, I've been busy with life (_ _")  
> I'll try to post the next chapter within this week, I'm really excited for it!  
> Anyway, enjoy! Comments are appreciated :)


	4. Phase II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> YuKi bromance is real and Wooseok is in this chapter yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I usually just take an excerpt from the chapter to put in the summary but I didn't think any of the paragraphs would've encompassed what this chapter was about without spoiling it, so eh.  
>  As usual, please enjoy. :)

Hyunggu and Yuto were sampling some beats, contemplating what kind of song they’d want to produce. Seeing as they already told Hui that they’re going to compose a song together, might as well actually make one so it seems more believable. Yuto was mostly quiet, only relaying what option he likes better but ultimately telling him the decision is his. Hyunggu thinks it’s because he’s still insecure about his music-making capabilities and between the two of them Hyunggu has more experience… or maybe Wooseok is still weighing heavily on his mind and he can't really concentrate.

He seemed pretty chipper in the dorms but not so much now that it’s only them in the small studio. Then again Hyunggu didn’t really notice the mood change immediately as he was busy going over his plan with Shinwon over text. It wasn’t as productive as he wished it would be as the only replies he got were “Don’t bother me. It’s my day off.” and multiple sleepy-face and meh emojis.

In the back of his mind, he thinks that he might have chosen the wrong accomplice.

The quiet washes over the small studio, the only real sound was the music he was trying to piece together.

He was choosing what bass would make the song sound more hip-hop when Yuto speaks in such a hushed voice that the purple-haired boy almost missed it, “Hyunggu… I… I think I like Wooseok.”

He turns to Yuto who wasn't looking at him, rather he’s staring at his hands fiddling with the strings of his favorite black hoodie.

“I just,” Yuto audibly gulps, “I want you to know that you’re helping me with that… and I understand if…” this time he looks up to meet Hyunggu’s eyes. “I understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”

He looks so determined but Hyunggu can also see just how much he’s willing himself not to cry. Yuto looks like such a manly man most times with his deep voice and tall stature but he knows just how much of a crybaby the taller one is. It took a lot of guts for Yuto to come out to him like this and Hyunggu is just so happy that he’s admitting it to himself. He’s so proud of Yuto and he relays just how happy he is with a large smile. The other man looks confused and it makes him laugh. Hyunggu turns his chair and wraps his arms around Yuto.

“Yuto-yah, it’s okay. I know.”

“You, you did?!” Yuto splutters in his embrace.

He releases the taller one and chuckles, “Yes I did. Like I said, it’s okay. It’s pretty cute actually.”

“You knew… the whole time?”

“Well no, not really. I just figured it out when we were talking in the bathroom. I wanted you to be the one to admit it though.”

Yuto still seemed very confused by his reaction. “You’re not… weirded out?”

Hyunggu snorts and he smiles at the taller man. “Of course not. I’d be a hypocrite if I would find your crush to Wooseokie weird.”

Yuto’s eyes widen at the implication of what Hyunggu was saying. He hasn’t really said this to anyone other than Hyojong but he thinks he should come clean to his Japanese friend so he wouldn’t feel so alone in what he was going through. He knows just how strange it feels when he realized he wasn't exactly the straightest person in the world and Hyunggu wants to be there for his friend.

“You’re… too?” Yuto’s brain must be having a difficult time trying to grasp the situation as him coming out to his purple-haired friend have divulged into his said friend coming out to him too.

Hyunggu nods, chuckling at the raven-haired boy’s expression. “Sure. I’ve known since I was in high school. I found both the guys and the girls beautiful, although I never dated dudes. Then…” he pauses for a bit but then shrugs. No use hiding this piece of information, he thinks, and continues, “When we were still trainees I thought I was in love with Hui-hyung.”

“Oh wow… really?”

“Yup!” he replies a little too enthusiastically. “Turns out I just had the worst case of hero worship. I wanted him to like me so bad, I wanted hyung to praise me in everything I did so I tried so hard at everything. It felt… really good when he would tell me I was doing a good job.”

Hyunggu sits back down on the chair and spins a couple times before facing the computer again. He knows he’s oversharing but in order to gain Yuto’s trust, he has to power through this. At least it’s easier to tell him his old feelings when he’s not looking at him.

“One day, I saw Hui-hyung with this girl and I don’t even know if they were dating at the time or they were just friends but I got so hurt that I didn’t talk with hyung for like a week, it was so ridiculous.”

He tries to laugh the memory off like it’s not a big deal but he even he thinks it sounds quite strained.

“Then I opened up to Dawnie-hyung about it and it just made sense that I just really wanted his attention. It wasn’t like I wanted Hui-hyung to be my boyfriend or I wanted to kiss him I just… I wanted him to see me and think, ‘Wow! You’re amazing Kino.’ or something like that.”

He crosses his arms on the table and proceeds to hide his face in the crook of his elbow. “This is so embarrassing.”

There was silence behind him but then he feels Yuto’s arms wrap around his middle. “It’s not embarrassing. I’m glad you shared that actually. It… makes me feel a little better about my feelings.”

He smiles and pats the taller man’s locked hands with one of his own, mission accomplished, it seems.

The silence that follows is somewhat tense and Hyunggu just wants to run away after all that talk about his feelings, the only person who even knew about it was Hyojong and he’s not even sure if the blonde man even remembers his confession. This whole thing was supposed to be for Yuto but now that he’s spilled one of his most kept secrets he wants to just bolt out of the room.

“You want some coffee? I feel like coffee would be good for our awesome music-making brainstorming session.” he asks all of a sudden as he shoots up from his seat, removing himself from Yuto’s embrace.

Yuto quirks an eyebrow at him, silently questioning Hyunggu’s strange behavior. “I don’t really like coffee but tea would be nice?” he phrases his answer as a question.

Hyunggu gives him a thumbs-up as he pats himself for his wallet, thankfully bringing it with him. “Cool. I’ll do a quick run to the café downstairs then.”

“I could come with you—”

Before Yuto could continue, he cuts him off. “Actually! Can you work on the rest of the song? I’m really not sure about the bassline and maybe start working on the lyrics for me? Thank you, you’re such a peach Yuto-yah, bye!” he says in a rush as he closes the door behind him, sighing as he hurriedly walks off to the café.

He’s ordered his drinks—an americano for him and matcha tea for Yuto—and is now waiting by the counter when he feels someone leaning onto his right shoulder, he looks to the perpetrator only to see Wooseok standing there with a small smile on his face.

“Yah, Kang Kino,” he mutters in a deep voice, “When are you planning to return my roommate?”

Hyunggu smiles at the small note of jealousy in his voice. He knew his hunch was right, Wooseok can be so obvious but it’s a wonder how he’s not obvious to himself.

He hums playfully, acting like he’s thinking about his answer before replying, “Well actually, I was thinking of making him move to Dorm A permanently. He’s so much cleaner than Shinwon-hyung.”

“I’m sure Yuto wants to sleep with me again! Let him decide!” the maknae responds, an eyebrow raising in challenge. Hyunggu wants to reciprocate but he can’t get over the way the younger’s reply sounded… it was so suggestive that he just to burst out laughing.

Wooseok seemed to have taken that the wrong way and playfully shoves the smaller man. “Yah! I’m serious, he’s my best friend!”

“Sure… but I can probably convince him with Hongseok-hyung’s home cooked meals and a much cleaner roommate.”

“Ahhh,” Wooseok pouts, his bottom lip jutting out playfully, “Please don’t! Shinwon-hyung is grosser than me and it’s actually weird showering alone now…”

Hyunggu raises an eyebrow at that. They used to shower together? No wonder why Yuto wanted to get away, after realizing his feelings it must be difficult to imagine yourself naked in the bathroom with your crush. _It would be so hard on Yuto_ , he thinks before chuckling to himself. He can still be such a kid sometimes.

“You guys shower together?” he asks nonetheless.

Wooseok nods. “We’re best friends. We do everything together, well maybe except peeing and stuff, that’s just weird.”

 _Showering together is pretty weird too,_ Hyunggu wanted to point out but said nothing instead.

“Not having him around is… kinda lonely actually.” The maknae leans on the counter, his face falling a little.

Hyunggu frowns at that. He didn’t want Wooseok to feel bad, but Yuto going back to the dorm with him again would be problematic. He doesn’t think it would end well if the Japanese boy suddenly revealed his feelings to the maknae if he doesn’t realize he has the same feelings as him. His plan would fall into shambles if things between them get even more awkward especially since both boys are pretty emotional, especially Yuto.

He pats Wooseok’s shoulder, trying to console the taller man. “Won’t be too long, we’re just writing a song together then he’s all yours again.”

“A song?”

“Yup.”

“We make songs together all the time and I never had to sleep in your room.”

Hyunggu shrugs. “Well we’re making a Japanese song and I need help with the lyrics.” Lying on cue is so much easier if the person he’s talking to isn’t as observant.

The taller man hums. “So, you guys are making a song… together?”

Hyunggu nods.

Wooseok seems to mull the words over in his head. Oh, he's probably thinking...

“Can I make it with you guys?”

On the inside, Hyunggu is just brimming with energy that he wants to jump around and maybe hug the barista but he still tries to say nonchalantly, “Well I kinda wanted it to be a personal project with Yuto, you know? We never really made a song, just the two of us.”

Wooseok’s eyebrows scrunch in the middle as if he didn’t like how Hyunggu’s reply sounded.

“It doesn’t have to be. We could call it the maknae line project. I wanna work on my Japanese too since I’m the one who hangs around Yuto all the time,” the younger man tells him in a slightly petulant tone.

Oh wow… is he jealous?

“Are you jealous?” he says in a teasing tone but also meaning it, nudging the taller man.

Wooseok doesn’t say anything and just glares at Hyunggu but his cheeks flush and Hyunggu just can’t contain that small coo that comes out of his mouth because of how adorable the maknae is.

He’s so jealous and it’s perfect.

Hyunggu covers his impending smile with a small cough, already thinking of ways he could use this new-found possessiveness the maknae has over Yuto in his plan to get them together.

“I’m gonna have to ask Yuto, our partnership relies on open communication,” he says to Wooseok, winking in his direction.

The younger quirks an eyebrow at him. “I’m pretty sure he’s gonna say yes anyway.”

“I just wanna make sure, you never know.”

Wooseok nods, although the small pout of his lips is still present. “Alright, I’ll go message him.” He takes out his phone but Hyunggu stops him midway.

“I was getting drinks for us, we can just go to him.”

“Even better.”

As if by fate, his orders were served just after they finished speaking. Hyunggu takes his orders, Wooseok apparently didn’t get anything and just took the tea that was meant to be for Yuto and started drinking it, and he and the taller make their way back to the small studio. The purple-haired man smiles at the thought that this plan might be better than expected.


	5. Wooseok POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wooseok was not nervous. He’s not. They’re just gonna talk to Yuto about him helping out with the song. It’s not a big deal, Yuto will say yes and maybe he’ll even come back to the dorm since he’s here now. They’ll be roommates again and everything will be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for not updating this fic in such a long time aaaaaaahhhh I'm sorry!  
> Anyway, enjoy! I promise try to update this more often~
> 
> P.S. Stream Shine, it's such a bop <3

He has no idea why he even went to the company. Well, he has one idea.

_Kino and Yuto are in the company, what a bunch of losers, they should stop working for the day off at least._

_What was that Shinwon-hyung?_

_I said, Kino and Yuto should stop working today since it’s our day off… what are they doing at the company anyway? I guess they wanted to work on the— hey! Wooseok, where are you going?_

_Going out for a bit hyung, I’ll be back by dinner!_

When he heard that both of them went here, Wooseok just ran out. He didn’t really know what he was planning to accomplish but now he’s with Kino on the way to talk to Yuto about a possible collaboration.

Wooseok was not nervous. He’s not. They’re just gonna talk to Yuto about him helping out with the song. It’s not a big deal, Yuto will say yes and maybe he’ll even come back to the dorm since he’s here now. They’ll be roommates again and everything will be okay.

What if he says no though?

He doesn’t think Yuto has ever said no to him before… he doesn’t really know what he’d feel if Yuto would say no and turn him away.

What if he just wanted time away from Wooseok?

Did he bother him somehow?

Did he hurt him in some way?

…maybe he doesn’t want to be best friends anymore.

Wooseok scoffs at the idea. Of course they’re still best friends!

Sure, he literally packed up to stay with Kino without any warning to him even though they tell each other everything.

Sure, maybe he didn’t really take the news all that well and he didn’t talk to Yuto when he heard from Shinwon that they would be bunking for a few days.

Sure, he hasn’t really been able to sleep or function all that well now that he realizes that Yuto has been around him for so long that he always thinks of him when he’s doing even the most mundane things.

And yeah, maybe he was a little hurt that Yuto pushed him away when he hugged him that one time but he said he needed to go to the bathroom… not that it was believable and it really just looked like he wanted to run from him.

But they’re still best friends!

Friends go through rough patches all the time!

He shouldn’t feel so worried. Yuto will say yes. This weird little thing they have will get fixed, everything will return to normal.

Kino will room with Shinwon again and he maybe when Yuto returns he’ll turn off all the lights early and hide his nightlight—it’s to mess with him, not because he likes it when Yuto asks all shy if he can sleep next to Wooseok. It’s especially not because he likes the feeling of Yuto’s back touching his chest and he sleeps a lot more soundly when he wraps his arms around his waist.

That’s right. Everything will be back to normal and he can have his best friend back.

Kino opens the door to the studio, and he sees Yuto in front of the computer, eyes trained on a beat that seems to be running on loop.

“Hyunggu-ah, I think this beat would be good if we loop it around the chorus part. I also thought of lyrics—”

Yuto turns to them only for him to freeze in middle of his sentence as soon as his eyes landed on Wooseok.

“Yuto! I got you tea!” Kino snatches the cup from his hands and gives to Yuto sitting on the chair, still frozen in shock. “I also got you Wooseok!”

That seems to break him from whatever thought was running through his head as the Japanese boy turns towards Kino. “Y-you got me Wooseok?”

“Yeah. Wooseokie said he wanted to help us with the song, right?” the shortest one of them all turns to Wooseok with a smile.

He didn’t really know what to say. He’s still reeling from the fact that Yuto looked almost scared to see him.

…like he didn’t want him there at all.

What did he even do to make Yuto so uncomfortable like this?

Suddenly, he’s not so sure that Yuto will say yes to him helping out in their little project.

Maybe… maybe he was tired of hanging around a giant annoying guy like Wooseok.

Maybe he stopped liking the hugs and affection that Wooseok gave to him every day.

Maybe… he didn’t want to be best friends with Wooseok anymore.

Wooseok doesn’t want Yuto to say no to him. He doesn’t think he can handle his best friend telling him he doesn’t want to be a part of his life anymore.

He didn’t notice that he hasn’t been speaking for a while because the next thing he knows, he’s being pushed down to the chair and hands are on his shoulder, shaking him a little.

His eyes focus to the face in front of his and… it’s Yuto.

“Wooseok? Wooseokie, you okay?” he asks in that deep voice of his.

His eyebrows are scrunched together in worry and suddenly he has the urge to just run his thumb on his forehead to stop it from wrinkling. His hand reaches out of their own volition but he manages to stop himself before he actually touches him.

“S-sorry, I… yeah, I’m okay.”

Yuto doesn’t seem to agree as his mouth forms into a small pout.

“Are you sure? Do you need to lie down or something? You want to go to the infirmary?”

He realizes that Kino is also beside Yuto, a small frown also showing in his face.

“Maybe he does have to go to the infirmary… can you take him Yuto?”

“No, it’s okay. I’m alright guys…”

Yuto’s pout somehow becomes even poutier as he softly glares at him. He then turns and nods at the purple-haired boy as he helps Wooseok up from the chair.

“Honestly, I’m okay.” he insists one last time.

“Shut up, I’m taking you to the infirmary.”

Wooseok looks down to his best friend still holding on to his arm as Yuto leads them out of the room and into the nearest elevator. He wanted to argue but he couldn’t find it in himself to correct him.

When they get there, it was locked as the company nurse wasn’t present although Yuto managed to get the keys from the security guard on this floor. As soon as they entered the room, he immediately pushes Wooseok to one of the beds and demanded that he lie down as he got him a bottle of water.

“Wooseokie,” he hears Yuto somewhere to his right, “Do you have a headache?”

“No.”

“Stomach ache?”

“No.”

“Fever?”

“No.”

Yuto suddenly pops up below the bed and frowns. “You know I can’t get you medicine if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

_You didn’t tell me why you left me all of a sudden…_

The bitter thought leaves his mind immediately as he tries to physically shake it off his head. Honestly, he has no idea why he’s thinking like this.

That was, apparently, the wrong move as Yuto is suddenly beside him and holding his head with both hands.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he mutters in a placating voice, “What’s wrong?”

Wooseok looks up to see his own eyes staring into him. He can feel the worry wafting through him in waves and suddenly, he realizes that Yuto cares about him. Even if Wooseok might’ve done something wrong or if he somehow pushed him too far that he had to stop being roommates with him, Yuto would still help him.

Because they’re friends.

Because they’re best friends.

Instead of being happy like he expected to be, he felt a sudden pang in his heart at the thought that they were best friends.

Were they… only best friends?

He didn’t realize Yuto was combing his fingers through his hair, trying to help in the best way he can and Wooseok couldn’t help himself anymore.

He dragged Yuto down and embraced him, making the Japanese boy shout a little in surprise. It didn’t matter. He missed him.

He hates to admit it but Wooseok missed him so much.

“Wooseok?” he asks, though a little muffled as his face is on his chest.

“This… this is the best medicine you can give me right now,” he replies.

He feels Yuto’s laughter in his chest and he can’t help but smile at how good it feels.

“Honestly, you’re such a kid.” Yuto chides.

Wooseok laughs in response and his heart feels so light.

Yuto doesn’t fight him, instead he asks Wooseok to let him go so he could rearrange himself. He’s hugging him properly and his head is tucked under Wooseok’s chin, their long legs tangling together. He doesn’t know if it’s just wishful thinking or maybe he cut off his air supply when he clasped him too tight but he swears Yuto’s face was really red.

Ah well, it doesn’t matter. At this time, at this moment, nothing really matters. He can think about his feelings and their weird situation all he wants later. Right now, he just wants to relish this moment.

He doesn’t really know why he wants to but he also doesn’t want to think about it, not right now.

He takes a deep breath and smiles at the infirmary door.

“Go to sleep Wooseokie, I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”

Wooseok wiggles just a little bit closer even though there’s not much space in between them to begin with and sighs.

“Goodnight, Yuto.”

“Goodnight.”

The four hours they spent sleeping there was probably the best four hours of his entire life. Somewhere in between, he heard the door open and a snap of a picture before a very distinct Kino-like giggle, but he decided not to mind it.

Yuto’s even breaths were tickling his neck, his head is cushioned in his left arm, his hands are locked around his torso and there’s nowhere else Wooseok would rather be.


	6. A Dent in "The Plan"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He… didn’t really know what he was doing.
> 
> OR
> 
> Shinwon is TRYING to be a good hyung.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S A MIRACLE! I HAVE UPDATED!
> 
> I was planning to do this earlier but I have been busy... and because I had two very separate ideas on how I wanted to progress with this story. I wrote them both out and stuck with this version instead~  
> Actually, I was going to make this longer but I didn't like the second part I wrote so I deleted it lmao
> 
> Anyway! I won't be putting out a date when I'll be posting again because I'm shit at sticking to a schedule but I will try to do it faster since I'm not as busy anymore.

He… didn’t really know what he was doing.

When Hyunggu asked for his help, he could’ve said no. Could’ve said that it wasn’t his business whatever it was that was happening to Wooseok and Yuto and stayed out of it.

Well, he didn’t… so here he is.

Shinwon is staying in Wooseok’s previous bed, he was never a fan of the top bunk and the younger man didn't put up a fight when he told him so, scrolling through the fancafe while simultaneously not looking at the notifications he’s received from Hyunggu.

It bothers him a little… actually it bothers him a lot that Hyunggu is so invested in these two. All he really knows is that he wants them to be together, well if they really do like each other Shinwon also wants their happiness, but it is strange that they’re adding themselves into the equation when this is primarily the milk couple’s problem.

Shinwon wouldn’t do this for any of his other members, he’d leave them to their shit and walk away… but Hyunggu asked him. He remembered his eyes and just how excited he was, and of all people he chose him.

It was sudden to say the least, but he’s here now. He might as well stick to it and see if this plan of theirs is actually going to work.

He leaves Hyunggu’s messages on read—he thinks he saw a few pictures of the infirmary bed but the texts were all in caps and full of heart emojis so there’s no cause for alarm— and settles a little more in bed to nap the rest of the day away.

Jinho woke him up for dinner, not surprising himself in the least that he spent his last day off sleeping, and now all the residents of Dorm B are sat around the table eating instant noodles—Jinho once mentioned that this is what they usually eat since Yuto is the only one who kind of knows how to cook. Not only is Shinwon missing his room ~~mate~~ , he’s also begrudgingly missing Hongseok’s cooking too.

Changgu is talking about a drama he just finished watching with Jinho adding his opinions on certain scenes and Yanan asking about some words that he didn’t understand. Wooseok was quietly munching on his noodles. Now that he’s actually looking at the maknae, he looks pretty sad… well he’s been pretty bummed out since he and Yuto changed rooms but it seems worse.

He bumps his shoulder to the maknae softly and asks, “Hey, you alright?”

Not even lifting his head to acknowledge him, Wooseok nods. “Yeah hyung, I’m okay.”

Jinho noticed their conversation and interjected, “You say that but you haven’t talked since we sat down.”

This lifts the maknae’s head and for a fraction of a second, Shinwon swears that he saw rage and frustration in those eyes, that is until it returned to its blank state.

“I don’t have anything to talk about,” Wooseok ends up saying, shrugging his shoulders in the process.

Changgu purses his lip after the comment and Shinwon knows why.

Wooseok isn’t exactly the loudest person in the room but he is pretty talkative, he’d talk about the most random things sometimes. It’s not like him at all to not butt in conversations of the hyungs even if he had no idea what the topic was about. Shinwon looks around at the other members and they’re all surprised at his indifference.

“Well,” Shinwon realizes it might be a bad idea to bring this up considering he doesn’t look all that happy but nevertheless it might make him talk, “You went to the company, how was the visit?”

Wooseok’s back straightens and immediately slumps, it was almost like he was electrocuted. What happened there? He might have to read Hyunggu’s texts after all.

“Nothing big. I just went home with Hyunggu and Yuto.”

The maknae looks down at his half-eaten bowl of noodles and suddenly stands. All of his hyungs follow him with their eyes and Shinwon is really starting to worry.

“I…uh… I’m done. Goodnight hyungs.”

And with that, Wooseok walked away from the table, into the kitchen to drop off his bowl and briskly walked back to their shared room.

Once they heard the door click, Jinho lets out a large sigh. His eyebrows are scrunched together and if Shinwon wasn’t worried himself he would call him cute right now.

“Hyung, what’s going on with Wooseok?” Yanan asks no one in particular, his eyes shifting between Jinho and Shinwon.

He immediately opens up Hyunggu’s messages and it suddenly dawned to him.

_Wooseok’s realized. He knows he’s in love with Yuto._

“…right, Shinwon-ah?” he catches the tail end of what Jinho was telling him and he turns to the eldest.

“Huh? What hyung?”

“I was saying that if you knew anything about this, you’d tell us?”

Shinwon bites his lip. He knows some things but he doesn’t know if he should be spreading around what Hyunggu’s trying to do. They haven’t even talked about their stances on gay relationships… not that it matters because Shinwon would protect the fuck out of the kids if anyone says something out of line—he’ll have to talk to Hyunggu about this.

In the end, Shinwon just shrugs his shoulders. He looks down at his mostly empty cup and stands as well. Seeing the youngest one of them all just walk out sadly really made him lose his appetite.

“I’ll go talk to him hyung,” he tells Jinho who smiles at him in return.

“Thank you Shinwon-ah.”

When Shinwon enters the room all the lights are off, except for a small nightlight by Yuto’s bed. The older man thinks the gesture is adorable but it’s also proof of how much Wooseok misses the Japanese boy. He lies down on the lower bunk, his eyes not leaving the bed above. The maknae hasn’t moved an inch since he entered but he knows Wooseok is awake, even in the dim light Shinwon could see how stiff his shoulders were.

“Wooseok-ah.”

No response from above.

“Wooseok, I don’t know what happened today but if you wanna talk about it…”

Still no response.

Shinwon lets out a soft sigh. “Honestly Seokkie, what’s the problem? Is it me being your roommate?”

He hears the bed creak and the person above him taking a deep breath.

“No hyung.”

“Is it the food? You want me to call Hui so we could buy something else?”

“No hyung… really it’s—”

“Is it about Yuto?”

Wooseok immediately stops talking and Shinwon wants to reach out and maybe hug him but he feels like the maknae might cry if he would and he doesn’t want that to happen or they’ll both be crying tonight.

“Hyung, I…” he hears Wooseok clearing his throat. “See… I… the thing is… Yuto and I… hyung it’s…” Shinwon hears him ruffling his hair in frustration.

“What are you trying to tell me Wooseok-ah?” Shinwon tells him the calmest voice he can muster. He wishes it was Changgu or Hui or maybe even Hyojong here instead of him, he’s not very good at this.

He hears him take another deep breath. “I saw Yuto today. He was working on a song with Kino.”

Shinwon didn’t say anything in case Wooseok wouldn’t continue talking.

He hears the bed above creak again as the maknae continues, “Today… I just… I realized how much I missed him? I… I didn’t—I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I… when I saw him and he looked almost afraid to see me. I couldn’t move, I stopped breathing when I realized that…” he hears Wooseok take a strangled breath.

“But hyung he… Yuto helped me. He asked the guard for the keys to the clinic, he made me lie down, he asked if I needed medication and when I hugged him he just asked to be let go he could arrange himself properly. He was scared of me, I hurt him but he was still willing to do those things for me.”

He hears Wooseok breath take on a faster pace, almost like he was on the verge of a panic attack, Shinwon was on the verge of standing and maybe asking the younger man if he was okay.

“I think I’m not straight.” The maknae’s breathing has slowed and Shinwon lays back down.

There was a beat of silence before he nods, even if he knows Wooseok can’t see it. “Okay.”

Shinwon hears the mattress shift again. “…and I think I like Yuto.”

A part of him wishes he recorded that sentence just so he could send it to Yuto and this weird sexual tension of theirs would be done and they could kiss each other already, but he didn’t so he’ll just keep listening like a good hyung would.

“Okay,” he replies to him yet again.

He sees the mattress dip in front of him and Wooseok’s head is suddenly popping out the side.

“That’s all you have to say to me?” Wooseok asks in such a surprised tone that it makes him smile a little.

Shinwon shrugs. “You want me to throw you a party or something?”

The maknae raises an eyebrow but since he’s facing Shinwon upside down, to him it just looks weird.

“Hyung… I just told you I’m gay for my best friend.”

“I got that.”

“I told you I’m probably bisexual.”

“Yes, you did.”

Wooseok actually crawls out of his bed to sit on the floor next to Shinwon just so he could look at his expression even more clearly. He would laugh at his antics most days but he thinks laughing would ruin whatever courage has spilled out of him already.

“You’re not surprised?” he genuinely asks him.

It was his turn to raise a suspicious eyebrow at the maknae.

“Have you seen the way you and Yuto act? It’s like you’re married.” This made the maknae blush and Shinwon smiled. “You’re worse than Hyojong-hyung and Hui-hyung some days and those guys play it up for the cameras sometimes.”

“Dawnie-hyung and Hui-hyung are a thing?”

Shinwon snorts. “No, they’re not. Hyojong-hyung is only attracted to plants and Hui-hyung is too busy making money and music to even think about dating. I bet he hasn’t masturbated since we debuted.”

“Hyung! Gross!”

“Oh grow up Seokkie, even Yuto masturbates.”

“Hyung!” Shinwon full on laughs at his pink face and ears.

A comfortable silence falls between them as Wooseok also smiles at him. Shinwon shifts upwards until his upper body is leaning on the wall.

“Now that you’ve told me this… what are you planning to do with it?”

The raven-haired boy tilts his head, clearly confused. “Do with what, hyung?”

“Your feelings? You’re planning to tell him?”

Surprisingly, Wooseok laughs. It’s loud and barking, but Shinwon could hear the sadness behind it, he could hear how fake it was and he’s worried yet again.

“Wooseok?”

Wooseok shakes his head. “I… I think he might know already. Maybe… maybe that’s why you’re my roommate now hyung.”

“What?”

The younger man snorts. “I might not be very smart hyung but I’m not stupid either.” He shrugs. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he realized my affections before I did, I’m pretty shit at understanding my feelings. So, instead of rejecting me… he ran.”

Shinwon’s eyes widen. This is not how Hyunggu said the plan was going to go.

“What?” he can’t help but repeat himself.

Instead of answering, Wooseok nods in his direction and climbs back up to the other bed. He wanted to tell him that Yuto also likes him, that if he just say something he'll find out that this was all a big misunderstanding. He was on the process of doing so before he realized that the maknae wouldn't believe him either way.

He takes out his phone and starts typing out a message to Hyunggu.


	7. The Plan Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS NOT HOW HE WAS THINKING THIS WAS GOING TO GO.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! I updated! It's been a long time coming... an entire month has passed since my last update and I felt pretty bad so I managed to squeeze three chapters out of me (sorry for the weird visual that sentence gave you, I'm a little sleep deprived tbh)
> 
> It's almost done! Anywho, tell me if you guys enjoyed this or whatever! Comments are very appreciated even if I reply super duper late :<

THIS WAS NOT HOW HE WAS THINKING THIS WAS GOING TO GO.

The room was quiet except for the soft breaths below him but his mind was loud. He kept thinking of ways to help… he could try and persuade Yuto to talk to Wooseok but he doesn’t think it would work out so well considering they both suck at trying to communicate their feelings to each other.

If only he could prove to them both that they’re into each other… but he doesn’t know how to do that!

He was hoping that once Wooseok understood his feelings he would make the first move, that if he felt jealous he’d try and do something! His entire plan was banking on the maknae’s dormant possessiveness to his best friend.

Hyunggu didn’t think that Wooseok would interpret things like he did… he has to fix this. But how? He made it worse and know he has no idea how to…

With a sudden burst of inspiration, he drops down to the bunk Yuto was sleeping on, immediately waking the Japanese boy.

“Hyunggu?” he mumbles though his words sound slurred. “W-what’s the matter?”

The purple haired boy cups the slightly older male’s face and smiles. “I want to do something for you. But you have to trust me, okay?”

His eyes seem dazed and Yuto was just about to nod along to get it over with but Hyunggu’s almost crazed expression woke him up immediately.

“W-what are you planning?” he asks after a yawn.

The shorter man shakes his head. “I can’t say but you have to trust me on this, okay?”

Yuto seems apprehensive but in the end, he doesn’t think he could deny his friend when he looks like he won’t take no for an answer.

“Okay. But what are—”

Before he could finish what he wanted to ask, the younger man smile goes wider. He kisses him on the forehead and jumps out of the bed.

“You won’t regret it Yuto, I swear!” Hyunggu tells him before running out of the room in elation.

Yuto had half a mind to follow him but he ultimately decided against it, he doesn’t know what he was planning but he trusts him. He lays his head back down on the pillow and tries not to dream of soft smiles and a person taller than him.

The next day was hectic. There were lots of preparations for their upcoming album, they had to do photoshoots, music video shooting and choreography practice. Hyunggu colored his hair back to black even though he wanted to keep his violet hair… it just didn’t fit the aesthetic of their new song.

But even if everyone was essentially running around busy as they were, they all had noticed that Yuto and Wooseok weren’t talking to each other.

When everyone from both Dorm A and B started mingling, talking about the things they’ve been doing on break, Hyunggu noticed that Yuto would glance towards Wooseok. He looked like he was going to talk to him but instead, he walks to a different member instead. Wooseok wasn’t any better, not really speaking to anyone at all.

The rest of the members seemed like they were having a good time despite being busy, talking and teasing each other but Hyunggu knows that they’ve noticed the weird atmosphere between the two.

Jinho and Hui have been looking at the tall maknaes whenever they weren’t preoccupied with something. Yanan was also glancing about at their general direction and muttering to himself. Hongseok and Changgu seemed the most worried, seemingly moving toward the direction of either one before getting dragged off for make-up or some other thing. Hyojong was asleep when he could but whenever he was awake, he would sit next to Wooseok and look at him with a small furrow in his brow.

Shinwon seemed unbothered for the most part, just scrolling on his phone with earphones in his ears, but Hyunggu knows that the only reason why he hasn’t lifted his head from his phone is because he feels awkward about all this.

Well, Hyunggu did message him his new plan… he at least liked it better than the original plan but he did complain that he had to take an active part in it now. He’s glad that Shinwon was still aiding him in this even if the first plan kind of backfired.

He loves that about his hyung… he loves a lot of things about his hyung but he also really loves that about his hyung.

Soon enough, evening came. They all just finished the last dance practice of the day, everyone moving to their respective bags so they could get rest. Hyunggu was still practicing in the mirror but all this time, he has been sneaking glances at Hongseok. He’s talking to Hyojong about something or other, laughing and smiling as he did.

He waits until Hongseok is by the door that he calls out his name. All the members who were still in the room—Hyojong, Hui, Wooseok, and Shinwon—as well as Hongseok look at him.

“Hyung, you’re not too tired right? I wanted to try and do the choreo with you.”

Hongseok raises an eyebrow at this. “Hyunggu-ah… I’m like the worst dancer here, why don’t you ask Hyojong to help you?”

Hyunggu smiles sheepishly before shrugging his shoulders. “That’s… ah… that’s exactly why I wanted to do it with you.”

It took a while before Hongseok understood what he meant. “Oh… I wasn’t doing the dance right?”

Hyunggu shakes his head. “I wanted to observe you, just in case.”

The older man seems to contemplate this but he agrees in the end. He drops his bag and stands next to the younger man.

“So, where are we starting?”

After around ten minutes or so, the other members have filed out and said their goodbyes to them. The only ones left in the room is Hongseok and himself. One they finished dancing to the entire song, Hyunggu starts looking around and making sure there is no one around anymore.

He hears a small thud next to him and he sees Hongseok spread out on the floor, his chest heaving.

“Hyunggu, I get that you want me to improve my dancing—and I really appreciate it of course—but it’s almost midnight. We should stop for the day and continue tomorrow.” The older man says while catching his breath.

Hyunggu was also lightly panting but he shrugs and sits cross-legged next to Hongseok.

“Actually hyung, I wanted to talk to you about something… I just didn’t want the other members to be alarmed about it.”

Hongseok looks up to his face and raises an eyebrow. “Kino ya, if you just wanted to talk I would’ve said okay you know? You didn’t have to torture me!”

Hyunggu laughs at the older pouting at him before he stares back at the mirror and sighs.

“Hyung, what do you feel about gay relationships?”

Hongseok looks confused for a moment and was about to ask why he would ask such a random thing but then he noticed Hyunggu’s solemn expression.

The moves his gaze to the ceiling, thinking about his response. Should he…

The older takes a deep breath. “It’s okay… I mean, I’m not straight so it would be weird if I didn’t support it.”

Hyunggu stares at the older man in shock, he didn’t expect… I mean he had his suspicions but… “You’re not… really?”

Hongseok snorts at Hyunggu’s surprised expression. “Yeah. I’m bi. I’ve never had a relationship with another man before but I’ve had… um… fantasies.”

“Oh.” Hyunggu’s cheeks turn pink.

“Yup.”

There was a bout of silence.

“So… you’re like me, hyung?”

The older man nods his head, smiling at Hyunggu. “I guess I am.”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

With that Hongseok shrugs. “I figured I couldn’t be the only guy here who’s into other dudes, it’s not that uncommon.”

“Oh… I didn’t know that.”

Hongseok sits up and wraps a sweaty arm around Hyunggu’s equally sweaty shoulders.

“Is that the reason why you were asking? Because you wanted to come out?”

Hyunggu shakes his head. The older man pouts and seems to be thinking for a bit before his eyes light up.

“Are you asking because…” Hyunggu looks at him and he sees Hongseok’s scandalized expression. “Are you and Yuto in a relationship?”

Hyunggu looks at him in complete shock.

“What? No!” reflexively pushing the older man away him.

“Then why are you asking me about gay relationships then!”

The younger man purses his lip before he looks at the older man. “Yuto and Wooseok are in love with each other and I’m trying to help them get together.”

Hongseok pauses before he nods. “Oh… then why are they apart if you’re trying to get them together?”

“Hyung it’s complicated!”

“Right, so is that why they’ve been so tense around each other?”

Hyunggu nods, feeling the guilt creep up on his mind.

“I’m sure if they just talk it out it’ll be okay.”

“Hyung.” He looks at the older man exasperated. “They’re super dense about their feelings. I feel like if I just lock them in a room and tell them to work their feelings out it’ll just be worse.”

The older man purses his lip. “Oh, that’s true.”

“That’s why I have a plan! But I need everyone’s help and I want this plan to work so please help me!”

Hongseok is quiet for a while and Hyunggu is starting to get a little worried that this plan might not work out after all.

“You’ll tell me everything that’s happened so far.”

Hyunggu nods.

Hongseok seems to regard him for a while but he ultimately smiles at the younger man and nods. “Sure, I’ll help. What do you want me to do?”

Three days have passed since Hyunggu talked to Hongseok about the milk couple. Hongseok has also shared what he knew to the rest of the members in Dorm A. Hui was surprised but immediately on board with the plan since he didn’t like the idea of the tall maknaes being sad. Hyojong apparently thought they were already dating but were having a lover’s spat, he didn’t take much convincing to help either.

All four of them managed to meet without Yuto, the Japanese boy already asleep after a grueling day of schedules. Hui and Hyojong were on the couch while Hyunggu and Hongseok were on the floor facing them. They were all tired but Hyunggu wanted to make sure that everyone knew what his intentions were.

“Hyungs, when I started this I just thought it would be a lot of fun but now… things aren’t going the way I planned and I don’t want this to end badly. I love Yuto and Wooseok with all my heart. I know you guys do too… so, let’s hope it works!”

Hyojong smiles at the sincere look the youngest man has and he reaches out to ruffle his hair, much to his indignation.

“Yah, Kino… don’t get stressed out about it, it’ll work out,” the blonde man tells him, “You’re so sensitive.”

Hyunggu wanted to be angry but he can’t really help but laugh at his hyung.

Hongseok pats his shoulder twice, smiling at him as well. “It might’ve failed before but now that you have all the hyungs with you, it’ll work. Trust us.”

Hui nods along with Hongseok. “Just give us the signal and we’ll make it work.”

He wants to cry, he really does… it wasn’t because he was expecting backlash from the members—he’s known them long enough that he knew they’d be at least accepting, but he guesses that he didn’t really expect them to be so supportive. He wishes he’s said something before instead of hiding it.

It doesn’t matter now, what matters is that Yuto and Wooseok end up happy and in the future, get married, maybe adopt children or dogs or both and Hyunggu can come by and visit them all the time… it’ll work this time. He has the hyungs with him.

Now that Hyunggu has done his end of the plan, he just needs Shinwon to alert him when he’s done so they could coordinate.


	8. The Plan (Shinwon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plan Keep-Shinwon-From-Gouging-His-Eyes-Out-Because-Of-Emo-Maknaes is a go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took out a huge chunk of my emotions... I think this is probably the one with grammar mistakes mostly because I changed a lot of it, if there are any that you notice let me know!
> 
> And enjoy as always~ uwu

When Shinwon agreed to help, he was just thinking that he would just exchange rooms with Yuto and just message Hyunggu about the state of the maknae. Apparently, there’s more to it now because Wooseok had to misinterpret the plan and be all emo.

Not that he could fault the younger man, they really should have thought this through more.

Seeing the two best friends be awkward around each other is borderline painful so if anything, he knows he has to help them… not because he’s a good guy or anything, he’s doing this for his sanity. Yup. Plan Keep-Shinwon-From-Gouging-His-Eyes-Out-Because-Of-Emo-Maknaes is a go.

Hyunggu gave him a pretty detailed plan on what he wants to do regarding the whole thing and his part of it’s pretty simple, he just has to talk to everyone in Dorm B about it and have them accept.

It shouldn’t be a problem since all Wooseok really does nowadays is just hang out in his room and fiddle with little nightlight Yuto left. Jesus he’s so pathetically in love, Shinwon really hopes this is going to work out well or even his bias towards Hyunggu won’t stop him from getting angry—it probably would, but he’s not going to tell himself that.

Right after Wooseok’s confession to him, he noticed that the maknae has been hovering around him more often when they’re doing schedules. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s worried that Shinwon will say anything—to Wooseok’s credit, he already did—or if he’s just looking for reassurance.

Shinwon is… well he cares about all of his dongsaengs, he wants them to be happy and prosper and he would be willing to step aside to take care of his younger siblings, that’s what hyungs do. Thing is… Shinwon isn’t all that great in comforting people, he can take them out to eat, give them a pat on the back or buy them things they need but when it comes to his words he knows he can be harsh and abrasive sometimes, it gets worse when it’s coupled with his temper.

It was something that everyone had to get used to, Hyunggu was a constant victim of his harsh words before and he always felt guilty about it.

Wooseok didn’t have a problem with him being such a prickly person before but now that the maknae has his love troubles, Shinwon thinks he’s not as thick-skinned as he is usually. Hence, him running to Shinwon for comfort is a problem. The quiet treatment is doing well so far but if he’s going to somberly talk about his supposed unrequited feelings for Yuto, the older man might not be able to hold his tongue.

Fast forward to a day after, he and Wooseok were eating lunch together—more like him dragging the maknae to eat since he doesn’t really do that anymore—when he breaches the topic that has been on his mind.

“Wooseok-ah,” he calls the younger man as he places his chopsticks on top of his bowl of rice.

Wooseok raises his head to acknowledge him, munching on some meat that he bought especially for him.

“I think you should tell the others at the dorm what’s bothering you.”

The younger man seems to slow down his chewing, thinking about what he just told him. Shinwon is expecting resistance of course but he doesn’t like keeping secrets to everyone else since Jinho trusted him, and it would be easier on his part if it was Wooseok who talked about his feelings to Yuto than Shinwon himself.

“What does it matter hyung? It’s not going to change anything.” Wooseok isn’t looking at him and is fiddling with the rice on his bowl.

“Everyone’s worried and making their own conclusions to why you’re like this. All I’m asking is that you ease their mind, I don’t want them thinking the worst has happened to you.”

This raises the maknae’s head, clearly confused. “Everyone’s worried?”

At that moment, Shinwon couldn’t help himself and reached out to smack the younger man on the shoulder.

“Of course they’re worried! You’ve been super mopey, you don’t talk to anyone, you haven’t eaten anything in AGES!” he practically shouts.

It’s a good thing they’re the only ones in the restaurant or it would have been a large spectacle.

He seems to understand what Shinwon was saying and nods his head. “I’m sorry hyung.”

Shinwon knows he can’t stay mad at any of the maknaes and just shakes his head. “Look, it’s fine. It-it sucks that you’re going through all of these feelings and because it’s someone close to you… not even counting the fact he’s your best friend and your first gay crush. I get it, I understand why you were such a little shit.”

“Hyung…” he mumbles, sounding both petulant and repentant in that one word.

Shinwon smiles at him. “All I’m asking is that you tell your other hyungs what’s going on. I can help, I’ll always help when I can but you know what?”

“What?”

“Your other hyungs would help you as much as I do.”

This makes the younger man smile as well and Shinwon is starting to think that he might be getting good at this whole comforting thing.

He takes another bite of food before Wooseok replies, “I… I’ll think about it hyung.”

The morning after, he sees Wooseok eating breakfast with Yanan and Jinho. They seem surprised that Wooseok is openly talking and responding to them. When he sits down next to the maknae, he gets greeted with a small smile.

“Morning hyung,” he says after a bite of toast.

Shinwon raises an eyebrow but just pats the younger man in the back in greeting. The night before, Wooseok had returned to being quiet so even he’s a little surprised by this development.

Just as they were all almost done with breakfast, Changgu comes out of his shared room with Yanan, yawning and plopping himself next to his roommate.

“Morning everyone,” he mumbles sleepily as Yanan passes the food to his direction.

Everyone greeted him back, making him smile even wider.

Jinho glances up and looks at the wall clock. “Hui said that our first schedule is at 9 am so you all have two hours to kill.”

Yanan hums in acknowledgement, not really paying attention as he’s ~~playing with~~ helping Changgu—smearing peanut butter on his cheek and routing the sandwich closer to his mouth.

The maknae and Changgu respond, “Okay,” at the same time and Shinwon nods, mostly distracted by his phone vibrating in his pocket. He would check his messages but it might be Hyunggu messaging him about his side of the plan, Wooseok might try and peak since he’s not mopey anymore.

Satisfied by the responses he got, Jinho was on his way to standing when Wooseok holds onto his hand, stopping him immediately.

“Wooseok?” the oldest asks.

Wooseok has his head down as he retracts his hand. “I… I… I want to say something.”

Jinho looks around the table, all of them with varying states of confusion, even the still groggy Changgu sits up in attention.

The shorter man sits back down on the table and reaches out to touch the hand that stopped him.

“Okay Wooseok, we’re listening.”

The maknae fiddles with the plate in front of him, stops himself and immediately scratches the back of his head with his other hand.

“It’s… it’s hard to open up like this…” he mutters softly, his shoulders drooping as he slowly hunches in on himself.

Changgu suddenly stands and goes to wrap his arms around Wooseok. Shinwon, not really knowing what to do, reaches out and pats the younger man’s shoulder.

“Wooseok-ah,” Changgu calls in a soft tone, “Whatever it is, it’s okay. I promise.”

Wooseok chuckles and it sounds, for lack of a better term, wet. “You don’t know that hyung.”

“Hey, no, yes I do. You can share everything to us,” Changgu replies in a placating tone, his hand now moving in slow circles on his back.

Shinwon doesn’t dare look at the maknae’s head because he hears the sniffling, he hears small drops land on his plate and he can’t cry right now—not when Wooseok is trying his best to do what Shinwon asked him to do.

Jinho moves and stands next to Changgu, running his hand through the youngest man’s hair. Yanan takes to Shinwon’s side and also moves to embrace Wooseok.

“Wooseok-ah,” Yanan mutters while his arms are wrapped around him, “Wooseok-ah what did you wanna say?”

The boy in question shakes his head, his sniffling more frequent. Shinwon feels the sting of tears in his eyes too and he’s pinching himself with his free hand to stop himself from crying with the maknae. He looks at the faces of everyone huddled close to Wooseok and it was a bad idea if he didn’t want to cry.

Yanan looked worried, his eyebrows scrunched together as all the thoughts that run on his mind try to make sense of what’s happening. Jinho also has a pensive look on his face, biting on his lower lip and he might be blaming himself from Wooseok’s breakdown—Shinwon knows that’s not true but he can’t comfort his hyung until he understands what’s going on. Changgu was the worst of them, he was already crying, tears flowing down his cheeks, even on the one that still has peanut butter on. He would honestly look ridiculous if this wasn’t so emotional.

“I’m… I’m scared you’ll hate me.” he manages to mutter out even if it sounds garbled with his tears.

Shinwon feels bad making him confess, a part of him wishes he could take it back but he knows this is progress. The others needed to know and it wasn’t his secret to share. He curses quietly as he feels the tears run down his own cheeks, immediately wiping them off with his other hand while still holding onto the maknae’s shoulder.

“H-hey, don’t say that.” Shinwon replies, “You can be annoying but we won’t hate you. We could never hate you Wooseokie.” He tries to keep his voice level but he knows that it’s not.

Yanan, being the closest to him, take his other hand and holds Shinwon’s own, his own silent way of comforting him. The gesture makes him want to cry more.

“Yah, I love you Wooseok. Just tell us what you want to say, you shouldn’t be so afraid of your hyungs, you’re way stronger than all of us.” Yanan tells him bluntly.

This makes everyone laugh, Wooseok included.

Jinho nods. “That’s true Wooseok. You can trust your hyungs, I promise.”

The man mentioned nods.

“Hyungs I…” Wooseok takes a deep breath. Shinwon searches for the hands he’s hidden underneath the table and holds one of them. “Hyungs I’m in love with Yuto.”

Changgu lifts his head that was leaning on the maknae’s shoulder, immediately beaming at everyone. “T-that’s it?”

Wooseok nods, still hunched in on himself, his hand that was clasped with Shinwon tightening its grip.

“Wooseok-ah, we don’t care if you’re in love with Yuto. We don’t care if you loved any other guy. If you’re gay that’s your sexuality and it’s okay. We’d support you no matter what.” Jinho says, his body immediately relaxing.

Yanan moves back and he has a bewildered expression on his face. “I thought you guys were already dating…”

It was Changgu’s turn to look confused. “You did?”

“Yes! It was why I never wanted to go inside their room! I didn’t wanna see them making out!”

Before they could continue bantering, they hear Wooseok chuckling and it immediately makes everyone laugh with him. He finally lifts his head and stares at everyone around him. His eyes are red-rimmed and there might be some fluids hanging off his nose but Shinwon knows he and Changgu were probably worse looking.

Jinho nondescriptly wipes his arm across his eyes. “So that’s what we just cried for? Jeez I thought you murdered someone or something…”

“I think I might’ve murdered my friendship with him…”

Changgu looks solemn again. “D-did he reject you Seokkie?”

Wooseok shakes his head. “Not directly but I mean… he left me and we’ve been awkward. The last time I saw him I remembered he looked so terrified.”

“But he didn’t reject you face-to-face?” Yanan asks again.

Wooseok nods.

Jinho returns to his seat in front of the maknae and starts pursing his lip in thought.

“Did you ever try to tell him?”

Wooseok opens his mouth and immediately closes it. He shakes his head again before muttering, “He knows me more that I know myself sometimes. I think… I think he exchanged with Shinwon because he couldn’t reject me face-to-face.”

It was the oldest man to shake his head. “See, I don’t think Yuto’s that kind of man. I’m sure if you told him what you feel, he might clear things up for you.”

“I can’t… I don’t think he wants to talk to me. Also, I don’t really care if he feels the same way I just… I want him to be my friend again.”

“That’s not true, he’s your best friend Wooseok. He’d never not want you around.”

“Changgu, that was a double negative.”

“I’m emotional Yanan, I don’t care for grammar right now!”

Shinwon tries to think of ways that he can help. With the way Yuto is always looking at Wooseok and knowing that they have the same feelings, maybe the best course of action is…

“I think you should ask him to be your roommate again.” he says.

Wooseok looks at him like he’s grown another head. “I don’t think he’d say yes to that…”

“Wooseokie, I hate to break it to you but Yuto has never said no to you.” Shinwon raises an eyebrow and Wooseok actually blushes. “The space you’ve given each other was a bad call and maybe Yuto’s too scared to ask you so you should ask him. I’ll even prepare my stuff so I could stay in Dorm A tonight.”

Jinho hums. “That might not actually be a bad idea. You miss him right?”

Wooseok nods.

“Then, go get him.”

He can see the apprehension in the maknae’s eyes and he squeezes his hand in comfort. “At least try, Wooseok-ah.”

“I—” the maknae stops himself and clears his throat, “Okay hyung.”

Jinho immediately stands and sighs. “Alright. Go shower Wooseok, get your face less puffy and everything.”

Instead of fighting like he usually does, Wooseok actually follows what Jinho tells him and moves to go freshen up, getting a pat in the back from Yanan.

Just when Shinwon noticed Wooseok was out of earshot, he says, “Yuto actually feels the same way.”

This stops all three of them and looks at Shinwon.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Yanan asks.

Shinwon shrugs. “He wouldn’t have believed me. But anyway, now that you guys know what’s going on, you want to help me and the guys from Dorm A fix these two up?”


	9. Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The word of the day is "awkward".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the only wooyu fanfic without a lot of wooyu so YES. I shall feed you wooyu before we reach the ending that i promise will be very wooyu.  
> Enjoy! Comments are appreciated <3

It's… awkward. It’s very awkward. It’s super awkward that Yuto wants to book a ticket back to Japan, run into his old room and possibly never leave. His mother wouldn’t approve of it, his brother would probably laugh at him, his sister would take a video of his pathetic self and share it on her Instagram and his dad would maybe drag him out of the room himself… but he really is considering this option.

He thinks anything would be better than not being able to talk to Wooseok again.

Yuto wants to… he just wants to reach out and tell him the most random things, maybe hug him for good measure. Thing is he can’t. He physically can’t, his body won’t even let him near Wooseok without tensing and to think the last time they talk was a few days ago.

He remembers the younger man holding onto him while he slept. He remembers hearing his heartbeats even through the shirt, he remembers his soft breaths that tickled his hair.

He remembers them so vividly that he couldn’t help himself and dreamt of it as he slept but in the dream, they were tangled in the bottom bunk of their shared room. In the dream, Wooseok pressed his lips to his forehead when he woke.

In the dream, Wooseok said he loved him.

When he was awakened to do their schedules, it hurt. It hurt that the dream wasn’t his reality, probably would never be his reality. He doesn’t even hope that the younger man would love him back, he just wishes that they wouldn’t have to be so awkward around each other.

But he knows it’s his own doing… and even if he returns as his roommate, even if he somehow ends up being normal with Wooseok again, he deserves an explanation, he deserves the truth. He deserves a lot of things.

… things Yuto can’t give him.

He doesn’t take note of what’s happening around him, he was talking to some of the hyungs about something or other, and he thinks Hongseok asked him if he was okay… he honestly can’t remember his answer.

Sooner or later, schedules of this day are almost done and he’s on the ground panting, he doesn’t get exhausted quickly but most of his energy has been pretty low these past few days so he’s not that surprised. What is surprising is Shinwon coming to sit next to him and resting his head on his shoulder.

They were both pretty tired and sweaty from dance practice. Kino and the choreographer were talking somewhere in the front, Hui was also there, tired but listening intently. Hyojong and Hongseok were animatedly talking to each other, Jinho’s in the far corner sitting up on the wall but also looking like he’s about to pass out, Changgu is nowhere to be found—he thinks he said something about getting water for everyone—and Yanan and Wooseok are sitting next to each other, like a mirror to Shinwon and Yuto.

He locks eyes with the maknae before he moves his gaze away, his face heating up for no real reason. Shinwon sighs next to him and he leans his head to the older.

“Yah, when do you think they’ll let us go?” Shinwon asks out of nowhere.

He was going to shrug but remembering the older’s head is resting on him, he shakes his head instead. “Not sure hyung. I think we have two more hours of practice before they let us leave.”

The older man suddenly groans out loud, startling everyone out of the quiet, even waking Jinho who was the farthest from them.

“I wanna go home!” he whines while rubbing his sweaty head on Yuto’s shoulder.

He couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of his chest, awkwardly patting the older man’s hair with the arm kind of trapped between them.

He then hears the leader pipe up: “Alright. It’s pretty late anyways. Those who want to rest return to the dorms.”

This earned a collective sigh of relief as everyone stood up to get their bags, Shinwon even doing a little dance from being so happy he could finally sleep.

Yuto thought about going back, he probably should as he doesn’t think he has the energy to dance anymore… but then he sees Wooseok. He’s coming closer to him, his head is down so Yuto can’t see his face but he’s moving even closer. He looks around himself and there’s nothing on this side of the wall—actually now that his gaze is back to the younger man he sees him carrying his bag on one shoulder.

He stops in front of Yuto before dropping his bag and sitting down next to him.

He moves his eyes around the room to see if anyone’s watching them. Hyunggu gives him a little discreet thumbs-up before continuing to talk to the choreographer and he thinks he also saw Yanan wink at him before walking out… what was going on?

“You’re not going to the dorms yet?” the maknae’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts.

Yuto looks at him but he’s not doing the same. Wooseok is looking straight ahead, at the bags that were left by the ones who stayed behind.

Yuto tries to calm himself as he shakes his head. “I would… but my legs are killing me. I think… I think I’ll stay back for a while until I can move again.”

He’s not really lying, he’s very tired but he knows that he could move if he rested for just a few more minutes. With everything in his head though, he can’t trust himself to not get lost without someone there to guide him back.

That seemed to worry Wooseok, his eyes immediately locking with Yuto as if he’s trying to read him.

“Are you okay?”

Yuto nods. “J-just overexerted myself I guess.”

“You don’t… you have really good stamina, it’s rare I see you get tired.”

He moves his gaze away from Wooseok, his face already heating up from their close proximity. He doesn’t know if he can blame it on how tired he is but he knows that if he even tries to look at him, it’s only going to get worse.

But the younger man won’t have that, holding Yuto’s face gently so their eyes are in contact and he’s moving his own closer to Yuto. His eyes start to widen as the maknae gently rests his forehead on his, closing his eyes in the process.

Yuto doesn’t know what to do, he’s so close that he immediately freezes. The younger man hums under his breath and it sends a small shiver up his spine.

“You’re pretty hot,” he mutters under his breath and Yuto manages to hold in a whimper.

What did he say? Did Wooseok just call him hot? His face turns pinker and he’s praying to the sky that his dark complexion won’t give it away. A beat later and he realizes he meant his temperature not… whatever he’s thinking, his breath leaves him in a quiet huff.

Wooseok rubs their foreheads together before moving away and assessing Yuto. His face still looks worried and even if Yuto is combusting on the inside, he wants to take that worry away.

“I think you need to rest.” Wooseok tells him.

Yuto can’t really disagree. “I will when I can move.”

Wooseok seems to mull this over and he immediately shakes his head. “I can carry you back.”

Yuto feels his eyes bug out of his sockets. “What?”

This earns a small shrug from the maknae. “You’re pretty light. I can carry you back to the dorms.”

“Y-you don’t have to do that, I—”

Wooseok smiles at him and Yuto’s already fast beating heart starts hammering in his chest. “It’s alright. I want to.”

He looks around for any reason he can say no to this, his eyes searching around the room to be his excuse.

The remaining members—Hui, Hyunggu and Changgu, who apparently returned and is handing out bottles—are looking at them with amusement and he’s starting to wonder if everyone knows he likes him.

He wants to be carried. He wants to be near Wooseok again but… he doesn’t deserve this, he can’t cherish moments like this without making his heart yearn for something more.

“What about our bags?” he asks as a last-ditch effort for Wooseok to leave him.

Changgu apparently hears them as he comes nearer and says, “I can bring your bags. I’m about to leave too.” His smile looks too knowing for Yuto to be comfortable.

He guesses he really can’t back out of this now.

“O-okay,” he mumbles in reply.

Changgu then gets Wooseok’s bag and runs over the other side of the room to get Yuto’s and his own.

The maknae then hums, looking up to the roof as if he was thinking for he looks at Yuto with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I’ll carry you… provided you sleep in the same room with me again.”

His brain short-circuits and a part of him wonders if this is his punishment for falling in love with someone that he can’t be with, if this is some sort of divine punishment that he can’t escape from.

“But Shinwon-hyung…”

Wooseok shrugs. “I actually told him to go sleep at Dorm A before he left.”

Even if his mind is running different scenarios where he says something out of line and destroys the best friendship he has in his life and possibly the best work with the best people he’s ever known, he can’t believe that Wooseok actually thought this through.

He wonders that if he wasn’t tired out of his mind, would Wooseok just asked if he wanted to return to being roommates again?

It terrifies him but he’s also so happy, so very happy that his best friend doesn’t hate him and misses him enough to want him back.

“You… you just assumed I’d say yes to all of this?” Yuto couldn’t help but smile at how ridiculously smug the taller man looked.

Wooseok nods and he might be just imagining it but he thinks he sees a sliver of doubt in Wooseok’s eyes. “I mean… you’ve never said no to me before.”

He’s right. He could never say no to him no matter how hard Yuto tries.

“I… then I guess you know my answer.” He tells the maknae.

Wooseok’s smile gets even wider and then immediately kneels in front of him, presenting his back to Yuto.

Before he can ask what he was doing, he taps his shoulder and says, “Wrap your arms around my shoulders.”

“O-okay.”

Yuto reaches out and clasps his arms around Wooseok’s neck. He thinks he hears a small sigh leave the youngers lips before he suddenly surges up to his full height, startling Yuto to hold even tighter and the maknae laughing as he secures the older man’s legs with his arms.

The maknae jostles him a little, adjusting Yuto so that he wasn’t hunching so much as he was carrying him. Yuto on the other hand probably has most of his blood in his face with how embarrassed he feels, he probably looks like a tomato at this point.

He simultaneously wants this over and also never want to remove himself from Wooseok’s back ever again. He can be so pathetic, he thinks to himself.

Yuto thinks he heard the man he’s holding onto say something but nothing is really registering to him because Wooseok is so close—it was barely even two days since they slept in the infirmary but his heart is still the same. At this rate, he feels like his heart might be loud enough that Wooseok could hear it. Yuto sincerely hopes he doesn’t.

“You’re a lot lighter than I remember.” Wooseok says as he starts walking.

This catches his attention and he replies, “Really? I thought I’d gain weight from working out.”

“Have you been eating?”

Not really. “Yes.”

Wooseok hums. “You’re not lying?”

Yuto doesn’t dignify him with an answer since he can still see through his lies, it doesn’t seem to bother Wooseok and he just lifts Yuto’s legs a little higher on his waist.

“I’ll make you eat more.” The maknae lightly tapping his head against Yuto’s as a sign that he plans to hold onto that declaration.

Yuto would’ve replied but he doesn’t want to ruin this with whatever words his mouth might say. The taller man bids a quick goodbye to the others, Yuto waving his hand a little. Changgu was walking next to them, carrying the three bags as promised.

When they were hit with the crisp midnight air outside, Yuto couldn’t help but shiver from the cold. He was wearing a jacket but it’s relatively thin. Wooseok immediately notices this and he looks back, trying to gaze at the older man’s face.

“Hey, you cold?”

Yuto nods. “A-a little.”

Wooseok purses his lip a little and he moves a little faster through the night, Changgu having difficulty keeping up with the maknae’s long strides.

“It’s alright. We’ll be home soon.”

The Japanese boy couldn’t help but smile at the word _home_. He buries his face to Wooseok’s shoulder and mumbles out a small, “Okay.”

He can tell himself that he did that because his face was getting cold, he’ll just keep thinking that was the only reason.

Yuto was sure that he heard Changgu say, “You guys are so cute.” but he chooses to ignore it. He was already embarrassed enough as it was even if he was enjoying the short trip immensely, he didn’t need to dignify himself to their hyung.

Right as they reached the elevators to get to their dorm, he mumbles next to the maknae’s ear, “You can put me down now, I-I think I can walk already.”

As much as he wants to cherish the moment and hold on for bit longer than necessary, he doesn’t want to overstay his welcome… and Changgu giving them—most definitely directed at him—knowing looks is making him uncomfortable.

To his surprise, the maknae scoffs at his request. “I told you I’d carry you to the dorm.”

“B-but this is the dorm?” he asks, clearly confused.

Wooseok smiles and shakes his head. “This is the elevator to the dorm. I’ll let you down once we get inside.”

“Wooseokie…” He can’t believe he’s in love with such a ridiculous man.

He tries to shrug as much as he can with Yuto holding onto him. “I’m just saying. I did say I’d carry you to the dorm, so I’m going to carry you to the dorm.”

Changgu chuckles at their antics and nods along with what Wooseok was saying.

“I mean,” the oldest responds, “Wooseok’s right. You did agree to be carried to the dorm.”

Changgu sees Yuto pouting and laughs even louder.

“Yah, I feel like you guys are teasing me.” He mutters quietly, his lips still in a pout.

Wooseok also starts laughing and even if Yuto wants to keep pouting, he can’t help but smile at the sound he’s missed so long. He knows it’s only been days since he stopped hearing Wooseok’s laugh but he missed it so much.

He’s missed him so much it’s crazy.

“Shut up and just enjoy the ride, Yuto.”

Enjoy it he will.

Soon enough they reached the dorm, Wooseok carefully let Yuto down and they both entered their shared room. It looks the same for the most part, Wooseok’s bed looks pretty slept in and his… well he did exchange with Shinwon and he wasn’t really known for cleanliness.

Looking around, he does notice that Shinwon’s stuff are nowhere to be seen. No disgusting rag, not even a bag of clothes and he also noticed a black bag that looks suspiciously like the one he used when he moved to Dorm A sitting surreptitiously on the foot of his bed.

_So, they really did plan this ahead…_

He goes over to his bag and rummages for some clothes and a clean towel, he’s also thinking of cleaning the room and arranging his clothes if he still has enough energy for the night, when he notices Wooseok doing the same thing as him.

“Oh!” his head immediately loses steam yet again as he starts thinking that he might have to shower with him so early into moving back in. “W-wh… I mean, did you want to shower first?”

Wooseok seems to not have noticed that he was doing the same thing as Yuto as his face gets a little pink.

“A-ah… I guess I did? Actually I… if you want I could?” Wooseok gestures to the bed with the hand holding the clothes and the other to the room in general. “If you, uh, wanted to at least.”

The silence that settled upon the both of them was awkward.

They were awkward again.

Yuto just had to ruin it and make them awkward.

He has to fix this somehow, he has to reach out like Wooseok has been reaching out to him. It’s not fair to the younger man that he has to be the one to fix everything. Yuto’s supposed to be the older one here, even if it’s only eight days.

He’s probably not going to survive. He might die… but he’s willing to risk a lot of things for Wooseok, even if it is his sanity.

Yuto tries to look as nonchalant as he could when in reality his heart is hammering in his chest and afterwards he might actually book that ticket back to Japan.

“Wooseokie, you—umm—you wanna shower together?”


	10. Making Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is normal right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DID A HUNDRED OF YOU LIKE THIS??  
> THANK YOU SO MUCH! IM SORRY I SUCK AT UPDATING BUT WE'RE CLOSE TO THE ENDING!  
> There's one more chapter (pretty sure) and if I'm not busy with studying and stuff I will continue to write this. Anyway, enjoy! Comments are appreciated and thank you for reading this uwu

This is normal right? This was normal behavior for them. Not the silence that’s fallen as they scrub themselves clean of make-up and sweat, not the weirdly long distance they’ve positioned themselves in even though there is only one showerhead and the bathroom is less than ten feet wide, showering together was a normal thing that normal boys like them who’s had a normal amount of closeness do.

…right?

Wooseok can’t help but think that it’s not, it isn’t. As he’s contemplating about it, he wouldn’t do this with any other person in his life—not his high school friends, not the other members, not his siblings, no one. He doesn’t think he’d be comfortable enough to bare his naked body to anyone, that is before Yuto came into his life.

He doesn’t even remember when it started being a thing. Wooseok can probably discern that it was because they were all in a hurry and five people to one bathroom wasn’t ideal at all but it’s come to a point where they don’t even have to be in a rush to shower together.

It probably should’ve been the trigger in his brain that his relationship with his roommate was different from the relationships he’d had with other people, it probably should’ve signaled to him that what he felt for Yuto was different, what he had in his heart was not admiration or just liking, he was in love. Maybe he was even in love even before all of this started, he was just stupidly dense about it.

Although, he shouldn’t think about it right now and just focus on cleaning himself up, just as Yuto is on the wall farther from the shower. Wooseok takes a quick peek at his friend and sees him hunched over—he winces at how the angle looks bad for his spine—soaping his arms and trying to reach around to lather his back as well.

Yuto is a lot more toned now compared to when they were both just starting off in Pentagon. He has filled out a bit of muscle on his arms but he still looks small. He remembers Hongseok saying that Yuto is just built that way but he can’t help but want to stuff more food in his face because of how slight he looks. Wooseok knows his best friend (they’re still best friends, aren’t they?) doesn’t really mind and is appreciative of his efforts but times like these, actually seeing his body makes him worry.

Apparently, he was looking at that direction far too long because he suddenly hears the other man cough. His eyes immediately find Yuto staring back at him with a sort of confused and also panicked expression.

“Umm… is anything… uhh… wrong?” Yuto asks him in such a small voice that shouldn’t be possible with how deep his voice usually is.

He can immediately feel his face heat as he shakes his head.

“I… I was just wondering…” _Make something up! Just make something up! Don’t tell him you were ogling his body! Stop being weird and just make something up!_ “You wanna exchange places? You’ve been soaping yourself for a while and the showerhead’s closer to me… and all.”

“O-oh.” Did Yuto sound… disappointed? “Alright, s-sure.”

He nods his head and immediately rinses off whatever soap he has in his body. He remembers their moments showering together usually involved playing around, stealing soap or spraying the other with cold water… he was tempted to do just that but he doesn’t think it’s appropriate. Plus, he doesn’t have it in him to pretend that this is normal. Wooseok wants it to be not strange but it is and he can’t help himself that he feels the way he does.

They managed to move around each other without touching in such a small space, immediately moving him back closer to the door and Yuto to the shower itself. He looks away again as the other man starts to rinse as well, he would peek but he doesn’t want to make this any weirder.

Seeing as there wasn’t any real reason for him to be here anymore, he clears his throat enough to gain the slightly older man’s attention.

“I…uh… I’m done. So… I’ll go?” He points to the door.

He doesn’t hear Yuto reply as he immediately stands and grabs his towel, not bothering to wipe himself off and just wraps it around his waist. He was almost opening the door before remembering the clothes he brought as an afterthought, turning around to scoop them into his arms, and then leaving the Japanese boy to clean himself.

Wooseok hurriedly wipes himself off and changes into his clothes before running out to Jinho’s room. He sees the shorter man on his bed, scrolling through his phone, his eyes moving to assess who entered his room before staring at his phone again. He taps the side of his bed and the younger man sits there, wringing his hands.

“Hyung, I don’t think I can confront him.” Wooseok mumbles, his eyes downcast to his hands.

Jinho sits up to wrap an arm around his shoulder and hums. “Why not?”

Wooseok shakes his head. “I don’t… we’re still awkward. I-I mean, we were fine but then it got weird again. He asked me to shower with him and I thought _Hey we do this all the time, it shouldn’t be so bad_ but it we weren’t talking at all and it’s bad. I don’t…” he suddenly stops.

He doesn’t want to say it out loud because he doesn’t want to acknowledge the feeling he’s had on his stomach.

Jinho jostles him a little, clearly waiting for him to finish what he was about to say.

“Hyung… I can’t… I can’t handle being this weird around Yuto. He’s my best friend, I love him as my best friend and I love him as… as whatever this feeling is but I can’t tell him because I’m scared it’ll change things even more than they already are.”

He looks to the side and sees the shorter man’s contemplative expression. Wooseok sets his eyes back on his hands as he whispers, “I don’t want to lose him hyung.”

The older man squeezes his shoulder to comfort him. “I’m not gonna force you Wooseokie, if you’re not ready it’s okay. Just… talk to him about this whole awkward situation so that you could fix that. You don’t have to talk about feelings or anything, just have a simple conversation.”

When Wooseok didn’t respond to him, Jinho just sighs and huddles the maknae closer to him. They stay silent for a few minutes, Wooseok thinking about how he’s going to approach Yuto and Jinho giving the maknae the quiet comfort he needs.

The younger man soundlessly removes his hyung’s hand from his shoulder and stands.  He moves to leave the room but before he does he mutters a quick, “Thank you hyung,” and walks out.

Wooseok takes a quick detour to the kitchen and opens the fridge for something to do, immediately taking a bottle of water and chugging half of its contents even though he’s not thirsty at all. He’s pretty sure that Yuto has returned to their room and if he doesn’t move soon, he’d probably be in bed asleep… or at least pretending to be asleep.

Then Wooseok would pretend that he doesn’t notice that he’s faking it and goes to his bed… the air would be awkward and they might wake in the morning not speaking to each other again and…

He slams the water bottle on the nearest counter and saunters up to his room.

Wooseok is scared, he’s terrified of destroying his friendship with his best friend (they still are damn it!) but not doing anything about it will just make it weirder. He takes a lungful of breath before opening the door to their room.

Yuto is… cleaning? He’s by the cabinet where he and Wooseok place their caps and is rearranging them by color. For the split second that he thought he was alone, he looked… sad. There was no two ways about it. He looked lonely and Wooseok knew he had to change that.

“It’s your first day coming back and the first thing you do is… clean?” he smiles at the older man.

Yuto visibly jumps at his voice. “I-I mean you and Shinwon-hyung didn’t, so I thought I’d do it for you,” he still sounds a little strained but at least he’s trying for banter.

“I knew I liked you as a roommate for a reason.”

“Because I clean up after you?”

“Yup, and because I missed you.” He suddenly let slip, his cheeks immediately heating up at his unexpected confession.

Yuto also stops fussing with the caps, his ears also visibly turning red.

“O-oh… you missed me?” he mumbles softly.

Wooseok didn’t want to lie, so he nods instead.

“Um… I mean yeah. You just kinda left and I didn’t… I just missed having you around, you know?” Wooseok walks into the room, closing the door and moves to sit on his bed. “We kinda do everything together so when I didn’t have you around even for those few days it was…”

“...weird?” Yuto finishes and the maknae nods.

Silence fell upon them once again and Wooseok can’t help but think that things would be so much better if he just kept talking, try to force the normalcy and he was about to do so when Yuto chimes in:

“I… I missed you too. I missed you a lot… I’m glad you called me back. I was worried, that you wouldn’t want to be roommates again after I just left.”

_I didn’t think you’d forgive me, I didn’t think you’d want to be friends again_ is left unsaid but Wooseok knows him well enough to read between the lines.

He wanted to say that he was worried too because he doesn’t know anything but making Yuto confess now wouldn’t help anyone, when he wants to tell Wooseok he will. That much he knows to be true. Anyway, he doesn’t really care anymore what caused it.

“I don’t want to be awkward anymore, okay?” he tells the older man who nods at his words.

Wooseok doesn’t even have to pat the space he made for Yuto as he immediately moves to sit down and lean on the maknae’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles into Wooseok’s shirt.

_For suddenly leaving, for not telling you anything, for not saying anything right now, for making you miss me, for a lot of things._ The maknae can hear all the unspoken apologies and he forgives him, even before he apologized Wooseok knew he’d forgiven him.

Wooseok smiles and rests his head on Yuto’s own. “It’s alright.”

It was quiet again but this time it was welcome, it was the quiet that they were used to, the kind of quiet they don’t have to fill with idle chatter and just soak in each other’s presence.

After a few minutes Yuto mutters, “I should continue cleaning.”

“You can do it tomorrow. You were pretty tired, you should sleep,” he replies.

“I didn’t get to clean my bed yet.”

Wooseok moves his eyes around the random clutter on his bed and sweeps them all to the floor.

“You can sleep next to me.” He says after the gesture, smiling cheekily.

Yuto grumbles but he doesn’t object and scrambles to get to the side of the bed next to the wall. Wooseok gets up to turn off the lights and immediately skitters back to his bed, Yuto hands already searching for him. He moves closer and arranges their limbs so that they’d cuddle together.

“You’re such a baby, still so scared of the dark.” Wooseok playfully chides him which earns him a soft smack on the arm.

“Shut up. Go to sleep.” Yuto responds as he burrows himself closer to Wooseok’s chest.

“Alright, alright. Goodnight Yuto.”

“Goodnight, Wooseok.”

As he drifts off for sleep to finally take him, Wooseok can’t help but smile as he wraps his arms around the shorter man.

It’s not the time to confess… but if Yuto really doesn’t hate him and all of this is just a big misunderstanding, then maybe, maybe he has a chance.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was not proof-read by anyone but me. If there's any grammatical errors that bother you, please let me know!


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